Three Essential Practices in Daily Life

Chgyal Namkhai Norbu

Final day of the Zhilam Drasbui Nadyig retreat at Merigar West September 13, 2013
This is the last session of this retreat so we try to concentrate on what we should do when
the retreat finishes. During the retreat we learned a little about how to do the practice: the
main practice and the secondary practices. We should distinguish between them.
Sometimes when I explain different topics in great detail, you shouldnt concentrate on
them because they are relative things. If you understand everything, that is fine, but if you
dont you can read about it in a book, for example. There are many ways in which you
can go deeper into that knowledge.
However, the main point of any kind of teaching we have received, directly or indirectly,
is going in the direction of our real nature. For that reason, at the beginning we explain
the distinction between mind and the nature of mind. It does not mean that we are being
in mind, in thought, but with this we know how to go to discover our real nature. We need
to concentrate on it. This essence is, as I have already said, the practice of Guruyoga.
Today we have finished the retreat and think that we have learned something. But in a
practical way, what should we do? I am asking you to do Guruyoga, in any moment, if
you have that presence, particularly in the daytime and the night time which is our life.
So this is the first point.
We have also learned very well how to apply Guruyoga, going into the essence, which
means into knowledge of the three vajras because everybody has body, speech and mind.
Their real nature is connected with what we call semnyi (sems nyid), the nature of the
mind. In Guruyoga we unify the states of all the enlightened beings and particularly of all
our teachers, their three vajras, Om A and Hum, body speech and mind. If we do
Guruyoga in a formal way such as in a tun practice, we have indications on how we
should apply it. If we go to the essence, the visualization of a single A within a tigle in
which all the aspects of body, voice and mind of all our teachers are unified, it isnt
necessary to go into detailed visualizations mentally one at a time. This is called Ati
Guruyoga.
Ati Guruyoga
Guruyoga is a very general name and we can find many different types of Guruyoga. But
what I ask is that we try to do mainly Ati Guruyoga. It doesnt mean that we dont do
other styles of Guruyoga. We dont need to have these types of limitations. But we do
have to understand how our situation is and we do not have many possibilities to do
complicated Guruyoga with visualizations, long invocations and mantras. It is only

occasionally that we have the opportunity to dedicate ourselves to this kind of practice
and that is why we have a practice like the tun. But I am not asking you to try to do a tun
every day because I know very well that it is not easy. It is much better to go to the
essence of Ati Guruyoga. We cannot say that we have no time for that because we only
need a few seconds to do it. It is very easy and we can always apply it.
Now that we have finished the retreat, some people ask me which practice they should do
personally. Sometimes people ask me that question because they have some relative
problems and there may be secondary practices to overcome them so when they ask, they
can receive some advice. For example, if we have many negative provocations, we can
do Guru Dragphur practice to protect ourselves and overcome them because Guru
Dragphur is the unification of many manifestations. But the first thing we should do in
daily life is Guruyoga.
Being present
And after Guruyoga what should we do? This means that we are not in the state of
Guruyoga, but in time and space, in the relative condition. Then we must be present. This
is the second most important practice in the Dzogchen teaching. Everyone knows what
being present means because most people know how to drive a car. Whether we drive for
half an hour, an hour, or two hours, we are continually present because if we are not
present when driving we end up off the road. When we drive, we dont have this kind of
problem because we are present.
Many people have the idea that if they have to be continually concentrated on being
present that they cant think, they cant work, they cant do anything. This is not true
because when we become a little familiar with driving we dont have any problem to talk
with our friends. We can also think using our minds. If somebody asks me something, I
can think about it and reply, I dont have to stop the car, think about it, reply and then
start driving again. So you can understand what being present means.
However we have only learned this presence for driving a car and it took quite a long
time to learn. At the beginning before the exam, it was quite difficult, not at all easy. If
we want to be present for everything, not only driving a car, we should understand that it
is not easy to have that presence immediately. But we can train and learn to become
present that way if we are Dzogchen practitioners.
A good Dzogchen practitioner must always be present, 24 hours a day. This means that
even if we are not totally in the state of contemplation, it is a high level, a good point in
Dzogchen practice. This is one of the reasons why in the Dzogchen teaching we say we
should integrate our practice in daily life. What do we do in our daily life? We go to
school, to the office, go shopping, we cook, etc. We are dealing with people, we are
working and at any moment if we are present, even in the relative condition, our work
and so on goes much better.